The $30 Million Domain Name

In a shining example of the importance of an exact keyword domain name for a business, it has been confirmed that the domain name PrivateJet.com has been sold for just over $30 Million USD. PrivateJet.com is one of the most premium pieces of online real estate around; not only is a private jet one of the most expensive and luxurious things you can own, there are over 300,000 Google searches for that term per month.

The story initially broke about two months ago by the highly acclaimed domain news website TheDomains.com, operated by Domain Hall of Famer Michael H. Berkens. The initial reaction among the online community was doubt and disbelief, but the story has now been officially confirmed. The buyers are Nations Luxury Transportation, LLC and the website is now live, having launched this month.

A direct quote from the company website read that: “By the end of 2012, it is expected that PrivateJet.com will be generating over 250,000 unique visitors per month from over 52 countries worldwide and will serve as the destination website for Private Jet Travelers, Pilots, Aviation Brokers and Consumers who prefer to live life without limitations.”

The Domain Name was originally registered in August of 1996. At that time, the price to own a .com domain name was $100 per year (not accounting for inflation). It is uncertain who the original owner of the domain was, but the group that sold PrivateJet.com this year was the intellectual property brokerage firm Don’t Look Media.

Don’t Look Media was very reluctant to sell, and had turned down offers in the multiple millions! Savvy management in the company understood the value of the asset, and DLM knew they could hold out until their demands were met. DNSalePrice.com reported that in 2005, PrivateJet.com was acquired for a mere $30,000! It appears that they had the patience and foresight to turn a $29.97 Million profit in just over 7 years of waiting; not too shabby.

A similar domain name, Jets.com, was sold in 2009 for $375K. This story just goes to show the incredible, yet immensely arbitrary nature of the domain industry, and commerce in general. A good, whether it be physical or intellectual, is only worth what two people are willing to pay and sell it for: that’s the only true indicator of it’s value.

The world of domains is such a fascinating and booming industry because of the supply and demand constraints. Only one person can have PrivateJet.com; no variation other than perhaps the plural can compare.

Despite being the highest known sales price of a domain of all time, million dollar sales are not uncommon, and domains sell everyday for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s not just .com’s either. This year alone, Saturn.pl (pl is the official TLD of Poland) sold for $190K. CDN.Net sold for $185K. Flights.ca (the official TLD of Canada) sold for $120K.

If you’ve never given a second thought to domain names, perhaps now is the time to open your eyes!